The acceptance of the Internet as a source of information, products, and services has increased over the last few years. Accordingly, the number of users of the Internet has similarly grown quite rapidly and in turn the number of transactions occurring thereon has augmented. Normally, a client computer requests a specific Web page using a unique Uniform Resource Locator (URL) and the request is forwarded to the Web server that supports that Web page. That Web server then supplies the Web page to the client computer and is displayed thereon by the use of a browser using Hyper-Text Markup Language (HTML). The HTML document that is provided by the Web server contains various tags that control the displaying of text, graphics, controls, and other features. The HTML document may contain URLs of other Web pages available on that server computer system.
Electronic commerce is conducted on a Web page by providing an electronic version of a catalog that lists the items that are available on that Web page. A user may browse through the catalog using a browser and select various items that are to be purchased. In addition, the Web page may have hyperlinks to other Web pages that provide products and/or services. However, the advertising of the hyperlinks or active bit map images is randomly conducted.
If a user decides to purchase a specific product, the server may provide a form for the user to insert the user's name, the user's credit card number or alternate method of payment information, and a shipping address for the order, or the product and/or service may be delivered electronically. Since the information relayed from the user is sensitive and personal, the information may be relayed through a secure connection using various encryption techniques that are known in the art. The server computer system typically confirms the order by sending a confirming Web page to the client computer system and coordinates delivery of the item.
If the user desires to conduct another transaction that is ancillary to the finished transaction, the user will have to conduct a search of the Web and look for the desired product. Once the desired product is found, the user will have to reenter the previously entered personal information. The current system is inefficient because it requires many interactions by the user in order to find an ancillary or related product and to reenter the information again.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,960,411 to Hartman et al. discloses a method and system for single-action ordering of items in a client/server environment. The server system disclosed therein assigns a unique client identifier to each client system. The server system also stores purchaser-specific order information that may have been collected from a previous order placed by the purchaser. The server system then maps each client identifier to a purchaser that may use that client system to place an order on their Web page. When a purchaser places an order, the server system determines whether the client identifier for that client system is mapped to a purchaser. If so mapped, the server system provides a single-action ordering page to the client computer system. When the purchaser performs that single action, the client system notifies the server system, which in turn completes the order by adding the purchaser-specific order information. However, the invention is limited to the specific Web page on that specific server and does not provide an auxiliary product for purchase on an alternate site.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,991,739 to Cupps et al. discloses an online ordering system that allows users to order food and delivery thereof from various participating restaurants. The online ordering system categorizes the location of each participating restaurant by a set of coordinates based on longitude and latitude and each customer's location is similarly categorized. The online ordering then conducts a search for those restaurants that are proximally located to the customer provides the Web pages therefor to the customer for ordering. The order is received from a customer for a particular product and the order is converted into voice instructions which are transmitted to the vendor through a telephone call. Alternatively, the order can be transmitted to the vendor via facsimile transmission and the vendor can then call the customer. The disclosure does not provide for a system that requests a related product and/or service offer post-sale and does not provide for the transmission of user and billing information.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,946,665 to Suzuki et al. discloses an online search tool that allows a customer to input the name of the goods and/or services and the name is then searched and a list of stores and/or malls that provide the goods and/or services is then provided to a customer. In addition, log information is collected on the customer and stored such as the stores which the customer entered and the names of the goods the customer purchased. Based on the customer's previous conduct, the list is structured to provide the customer with stores that he or she previously visited and the goods that they purchased. The disclosure does not provide for a system that requests a related product and/or service offer post-sale and does not provide for the transmission of user and billing information.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,983,199 Kaneko discloses an online shipping system which enables users to shop by clicking on hyperlinks that are posted on the home pages. The invention monitors a Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) dial-up from a user device through the server and allows the extraction of the user's phone number through the connections. Thus the operator of the web page can make telephone contact with the user who has exhibited interest in the operator's web page. The disclosure does not provide for a system that requests a related product and/or service from an alternate source to be introduced to the user and does not provide for the transmission of user and billing information upon the user's approval.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,963,915 to Kirsch discloses a shopping system over a computer network in a secure fashion. A persistent predetermined coded identifier, such as a cookie, is established on the client browser corresponding to an account record stored by a merchant server which the user has previously visited. If the client conducts another purchase transaction with the merchant, the predetermined coded identifier is received by the merchant server and validated against the server stored account record and the transaction is either confirmed or denied. The disclosure does not provide for a system that requests a related product and/or service from an alternate source to be introduced to the user and does not provide for the transmission of user and billing information upon the user's approval.
The prior art does not address the need for increasing sales of a related product in a convenient and efficient manner which introduction is responsive to the user's conduct and selection. Therefore, there remains a long standing and continuing need for an advance in the art of post-transaction promotions that is simpler in both design and use, and is more economical and convenient to implement and use.